Display cabinet



March 9 w. w; HARWOOD 2,703,743

I DISPLAY CABINET Filed Oct. 21, 1952 H l /32m u INVENTOR.

W Waflwew wwa lmw llnited States Patent DISPLAY CABINET Wallace W. Harwood, New York, N. Y., assignor to August Rust-Oppenheim, New York, N. Y.

Application October 21, 1952, Serial No. 315,986

1 Claim. or. 312-128) This invention relates to display cabinets for jewelry and the like, and has for its primary object to provide a cabinet which has a number of reflecting surfaces so arranged that a piece of jewelry displayed in the cabinet will catch the eye from various directions of approach, and will be exhibited simultaneously in various aspects, directly and through simple and compound reflections.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing forming part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a novel display cabinet which embodies features of the invention, a portion of the front cover glass being partly broken away;

Figure 2 is a view in sectional elevation, taken upon the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken upon the line 3-3 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of the illustrative cabinet in rear elevation; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the illustrative cabinet.

The cabinet comprises a bottom board of isosceles trapezoidal form which is connected through cleats 12 and through tongue and groove connections with upright front and backboards 14 and 16 and with upright side or wing boards 18 and 20. Each of the so-called boards may be a single wide board, or it may be made up of two or more boards joined edge to edge. Again it may be a piece of plywood or of some material other than Wood. The front and back boards 14 and 16 extend upward only for short distances, but the wing boards 18 and 20 extend the full height of the cabinet and have upper edges which slope from front to rear. A cover board 22 is secured between the upper margins of the wing boards 18 and 20 and slopes downward at a 45 angle from front to rear.

The cabinet body is open at the front above the front board 14. A rabbeted frame 24, comprising bottom and top members 26 and 28 and upright side members 30, surrounds the opening. The frame rests upon the front board 14 and projects forward beyond it. The frame has tongue and groove connection with the front faces of the wing boards 18 and 20. A pane of cover glass 32 is fitted into the rabbet of the frame and bears rearwardly along its vertical margins against the forward faces of the wing boards 18 and 26. A partially transparent plastic sign 34 having a name printed upon it is adhered to the inner face of the upper exposed border of the glass 32. As shown, the letters of the sign are transparent and the letter background is opaque or semi-opaque.

A door 36 is provided just above the back board 16 to be disposed when closed in coplanar relation with the back board. The door is supported by hinges 36 from the Wing board 18. Reinforcing metallic angle bars are provided for the rear edges of the wing boards 18 and 20 throughout the full heights of such edges. The door 36 is desirably provided with an operating knob 38, and provision is made of a spring catch 40.

Within the cabinet various mirrors and a transparent display shelf are provided. A bottom mirror 42 of isosceles trapezoidal form is provided just below the frame and door openings, the mirror being supported upon horizontal cleats 44 attached to the wing boards 18 and 2t), and fitted between the glass 32 and the back board 16. The mirror 42 corresponds in shape to the horizontal cross-sectional shape of the interior of the 2,703,743 Patented Mar. 8, 1955 cabinet. Its shorter, rear base is one-half as long as its longer forward base and is equal in length to each of its sides. The angles made by the sides with the long base are angles of sixty degrees, and the angles made by the sides with the shorter base are angles of The upper side margins of the mirror 42 are abutted by the lower edges of rectangular, vertically disposed mirrors 46 and 48 which are attached in any suitable way, as by adhesive, to the respective wing boards 18 and 20. The mirrors 46 and 48 are identical in shape and size with one another. They extend from front to rear of the wing boards for the full depth of the cabinet.

.The upper edges of the mirrors 46 and 48 support a horizontal, transparent display shelf 50, desirably of glass, upon which the article to be displayed is set. The shelf 50 is of the same shape as the lower mirror 42.

The upper side margins of the shelf 50 are abutted by the lower edges of wing mirrors 52 and 54, which are attached in any suitable way, as by adhesion, to the respective wing boards 18 and 20. The mirrors 52 and 54 are disposed in coplanar relation, respectively, with the mirrors 46 and 48. The mirrors 52 and 54 extend the full depth of the interior of the cabinet, but terminate at their upper ends in a plane parallel to the top board 22 but at a substantial distance below the top board.

A top mirror 56 bears at its margins against the upper edges of the wing mirrors 52 and 54 and extends the full depth of the interior of the cabinet. The top mirror 56 slopes downward from front to rear at an angle of 45 to the horizontal. The mirror 56 is desirably attached by adhesion to a board 58. The board 58 is secured to the wing boards 18 and 20 and extends parallel to the top board 22, but is spaced from the top board a substantial distance.

A rear mirror 60 is affixed, desirably by adhesion, to the door 36. When the door is closed the edges of the mirror 60 abut rear portions of the mirrors 42, 46, 48, 52, 54 and 56.

It is evident from what has been said that the cabinet includes top, bottom, and rear mirrors and two wing mirrors. The bottom mirror 42 is at right angles to the rear mirror 60 and to each of the wing mirrors. The back mirror 60 makes a dihedral angle of with the top mirror 56, and dihedral angles of 120 with each of the wing mirrors.

With the cabinet set near the front of a store window, and with a piece of jewelry set in a central position on the display shelf, the piece of jewelry will be seen directly and by reflection from a wide angle of approach. The piece of jewelry exhibited will be revealed in a multiplicity of aspects, both by direct reflection from the top, back and wing mirrors, and by compound reflection through various combinations of these mirrors with one another and with the bottom mirror.

The board 58 supports a tray 62, the tray being disposed to rest upon the board and against a cleat 64 aflixed to the board. The tray 62 supports a pair of fluorescent light bulbs 66 along its upper, forward margin. The tray and the board 58 are cut out in the area beneath the bulbs, and the silver is removed from the back of the mirror 56 in the same area shown at 5611, so that the light from the bulbs may shine through the sign 34- and may also shine down into the cabinet to illuminate the forward portion of the cabinet directly and the remaining portion thereof indirectly the shelf 50. A filler bar 68 is provided between the frame and the top board 22 at the top of the cabinet. The frame is secured to the bar 68, and through the bar to the top board 22. A plate 70, aflixed to the rear face of the bottom piece 26 of the frame, engages the rear face of the front board 14 and assists in locating and retaining the frame in its assigned position.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiment of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiment shown, but what I desire to cover by letters patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

A display cabinet comprising, in combination, bottom, top, back and wing mirrors, means supporting the mirrors, the bottom mirror being horizontally disposed and being at right angles to the back and wing mirrors, the

back mirror being vertically disposed and meeting the wing mirrors at angles of 120 and the top mirror at an angle of 135, a transparent shelf located parallel to the bottom mirror and at a substantial distance above the bottom mirror for supporting an article to be displayed, a window in the front of the cabinet, and a frame surrounding the window, the window including a cover glass, a partially transparent sign disposed in the upper marginal area of the cover glass, the top mirror having a clear, transparent margin at its upper, forward extremity and illuminating means supported in the cabinet above the clear margin of the top mirror and behind the sign to illuminate the sign and the forward portion of the cabinet directly, and the sign serving largely to conceal the illuminating means and to cause those portions of the cabinet which are not directly illuminated to be indirectly illuminated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

